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Ross Perot Denies He Helped Manipulate Energy Market

H. Ross Perot, whose computer company has been accused of helping energy traders manipulate the California power market, flatly denied any wrongdoing today by saying at a State Senate hearing that the company had tried to sell its services to the traders but was rejected.

The Senate energy committee had earlier released internal documents from the company, the Perot Systems Corporation, that appeared to show that it had tried to teach energy traders how to profit from loopholes in a state energy system that the company had helped form. The state had hired Perot Systems to help put together the computers and software used to manage the flow of power around California.

The hearings were held against a backdrop of the first energy emergency here since last July. On Wednesday, a record heat wave caused power demand to soar dangerously close to the available supplies. But a slight easing of temperatures today let the state declare an end to the emergency, which was nonetheless a reminder of the crisis that gripped the state last year and caused blackouts and major disruptions.

State officials have long contended that energy traders, including Enron, had gouged Californians by artificially limiting supplies in the crisis last year and sending prices rocketing.

The state has gone to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to fight for an $8.9 billion rebate from energy companies. As that case is being adjudicated, state officials and the Legislature have been seeking to uncover evidence of fraud or manipulation.

Mr. Perot, testifying in Sacramento, said that all the systems his company developed for the authority that manages the energy market here, the California Independent System Operator, were already public and that when Perot Systems sought to consult with energy traders it was turned down.

''No one hired us to provide these services,'' Mr. Perot said. ''Our marketing efforts was unsuccessful.

''As the experts will tell you, there was nothing confidential about the California energy market rules, because all the rules were developed in public, debated in public, criticized in public and, ultimately, adopted in public.''

Senator Joe Dunn, a Democrat who heads the Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee, disputed Mr. Perot and other witnesses from the company. Mr. Dunn said the company's documents suggested that traders should hire Perot Systems because it had singular knowledge about the inner workings of the state's energy system and that although Perot Systems had failed to sell software to the energy companies, it did succeed in persuading at least some to attend seminars on the market loopholes.

''Contrary to any assertion by anyone,'' Mr. Dunn said in an interview, ''our concerns have not been resolved. In fact, they have been heightened.''

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In spite of the fact that enough power plants were out of operation to remove 4,000 megawatts from the market today, supplies were reported ample. State officials credited two factors for the improved situation. A construction boom has added more than 3,000 megawatts over the last 18 months, and consumers have been conserving nearly an equal amount of power in response to programs that encourage reduced use.

In response, prices have remained in check, in part because the federal government has given in to demands from California to maintain caps on market prices. Those caps were lifted last year.

Although the price of power soared to more than $1,000 a megawatt at times last spring, this week it has been capped at slightly less than $60 a megawatt.

The Federal Regulatory Energy Commission decided today to raise that cap, to $92, even though market rates remained below that level.

The move provoked an angry response from Gov. Gray Davis, who continued his war of words with energy regulators in Washington. He faults the federal regulators as letting his state's crisis get out of hand.

The Senate committee promised to continue its investigation of Mr. Perot's company and other energy traders. Some state officials said the aggressive efforts were helping improve market conditions by deterring the manipulation they say occurred last year.

''People know now they can't get away with that kind of gaming of the market today,'' Mr. Davis's senior energy adviser, Richard Katz, said.

''If this had been last year,'' Mr. Katz said, ''we certainly would have had blackouts this week. But we've learned from last year.''

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A version of this article appears in print on July 12, 2002, on Page A00014 of the National edition with the headline: Ross Perot Denies He Helped Manipulate Energy Market. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe